Figuring something out

Posted on Thu Jun 5th, 2025 @ 4:36am by Consul Andrinn Orin & Lieutenant Commander Rin

Mission: Season 6: Echoes of the Zynari
Location: Commander Rin's Office
Timeline: MD4-Noon
1668 words - 3.3 OF Standard Post Measure

[ON:]

While there was a lot to figure out and Andrinn had begun a little bit of research with Nick, there was still so much more to figure out with the elusive Zynari. In a way, Andrinn was a bit excited to figure out this little mystery on the Elysium. He hated not knowing stuff, but was excited to work on the mystery.

Andrinn and Rin were going to be working together, per Commodore Lalor's orders and request. Andrinn hadn't worked much one-on-one with Rin before, so it was going to be exciting for him to work with her. He had sent a request to see if she would be interested in meeting up somewhere and was just waiting on a response back.

"You can meet me in my office so we can make use of the computer systems," Rin replied.

Andrinn got the message back about the meeting place and decided to head up right away, since he knew that everyone onboard was expecting answers. It didn't take Andrinn long to get to her office, where he pressed the call button and waited for a response.

The door slid open and Rin waved Andrinn in. She sat behind a desk with several holographic screens popped up around her. "Have a seat," she said, pointing to a chair beside her. "Can I get you anything to drink?" she asked.

Andrinn walked inside and took a seat at once of the chairs. He thought about it for a moment and replied, "If you've got a thing of Earl Gray Tea, I'd love it. But, I don't want to impose or anything."

"I just meant from the replicator," Rin stated as she ordered one mug of coffee and one of tea, the later of which she set in front of Andrinn.

She carefully took a sip of her drink. "Apparently, the Zynari have decided I'm to drink cocoa today. Could be worse."

She adjusted a couple of the displays so Andrinn could more easily see what she was highlighting. "I've been trying to find any patterns. The data from Science has been helpful, but I'm still not seeing finding anything concrete. And perhaps that's the point. I would posit we're dealing with multiple independent beings who have different - even contradictory - ideas how to interact with us.

"As we have all noted, they interact the most playfully with the children. Only one injured child has been reported, and she tripped while chasing a toy around the room. I consider that a statistical outlier. The children are the only ones who have reported talking to the Zynari, although children also have imaginary friends whom they think talk, so I'm more wary about that data. As an addendum to that, there have been adults hearing things in their own voices, but the messages are muddled, more sinister in tone, and there doesn't seem to be back and forth conversation. Are the Zynari treating the children differently, or are the children simply better able to interact with them?"

She swiped away one data table and brought up another. "Looking just at adults, I haven't figured out a pattern concerning age, gender, department, rank or species. Which doesn't mean there isn't one, just that I haven't found it. But we need to at least consider there is no overall pattern. Thoughts?"

Andrinn looked over all the data that Rin had on the Zynari, hoping that he could gleam something from it from a diplomatic standpoint. There were so many ways that his mind was working and taking him to, but not one thing stuck over another. But, maybe that was the point and what Rin said about them not being one person might hold some weight.

"Well, I had two major thoughts about it all. The first thing that I thought about is what if this species is something like the Tholians or the Suliban? They're a crystal-like species that has adapted to a rather hot climate. What if our new friends did something similar, but had abilities like the Suliban? Ability to hide themselves away and reflect light off themselves to only show themselves to certain people?" Andrinn offered up, putting a few commands into the console in front of him, pulling up some information about the Tholians and the Suliban.

After looking at the information about them, the second thought came back into mind. Andrinn continued, "The second thing was about what you said about whether it was a singular entity or if it was multiple. What if they're like the Federation? A group of similar species that have evolved into what they are now and maybe that's why there's not one singular thing we're seeing out of them. It could help to explain why some are more playful, while some of them are more angry or upset."

"I didn't specifically mean different species," Rin clarified. "Just that each Zynari might be acting on their own, rather than all of them working toward a single monolithic goal. As you say, each individual has their own personality, which is why we see such a range of behaviors."

"That's why I was thinking they could be like the Tholians in some ways. I think they use different colors or something to represent different emotions. They're just so many different aspects of one species, but are totally different from one another. I...just don't know. I think I'm just trying to figure them out a little bit because they are such a mystery still," Andrinn replied as he got out of his seat and started to pace the room a little bit. The Zynari were just such a curious race and they hadn't truly made any contact outside of playing with the children.

"I wish that there was a way for us to interact with the Zynari, but they appear to have only communicated with the children. There's got to be a way to break that barrier and get them to communicate with us," Andrinn replied as he sat back down in his chair and looked the data over once more.

"Hang on," Rin said, scrolling through digital files until she found the one in question. "We had an issue in the holodecks earlier today. The holodeck began projecting scenes from the memories of those inside. Important moments from their lives. What if they either communicate through or feed off brain waves? Alternatively, emotions or neurotransmitters."

"That's actually not a bad idea! It could explain a little bit about why the telepathic crew members couldn't sense anyone or anything else out there. They might've been using our own crew's memories to hide themselves until they wanted to be found," Andrinn offered up, thinking about how people like Lt. N'Vok and others said they couldn't sense anything out of the ordinary. At least, that's what Andrinn thought they said.

Andrinn took a moment to think about it before saying, "Could we maybe use the holodeck to our advantage with maybe luring out the aliens? Since we can't see them, but they can manipulate the holodeck to read our thoughts, why couldn't we send someone in and make them think about meeting the aliens or something similar?"

"It's worth a try. You want to head that up? You're the communicator. I'm just the analyzer."

"I guess we can head down to the holodeck and actually give it a try? See what we can't figure out before bringing it up to the Commodore and Captain," Andrinn offered up with a small shrug of his shoulders.

"Um.... We don't really want the Zynari projecting my memories in the holodeck. Nightmares for everyone involved," Rin said a bit sheepishly.

"Never said first contact wasn't always a nice and neat sport. Gotta take some risks sometimes," Andrinn offered up as he got up his seat and walked towards the doors. Once he was at the doors and they parted ways, he looked back at Rin and chuckled before asking, "You coming? Or are you afraid of what might come out in a little holodeck program?"

"I'm. An. xB," Rin replied with emphasis, glaring. How dare him, she thought. "I guess consider yourself warned."

"Oh, shute! I keep forgetting that part of your past. I do apologize," Andrinn said, realizing his blunder. Looking back at Rin, Andrinn said, "I know that you've got the implants and all, but you've always been Rin to me. Not just an xB. So, I hope you can forgive me about that part."

"Apology accepted," Rin said crisply, gaze still leveled directly at Andrinn. "But might I suggest, Consul, the next time someone expresses concern over the sharing of trauma, you don't treat it with the flippancy of a playground dare."

"Yes, ma'am. I do apologize again. Maybe, something we could do is come up with some ideas into how we could go into the holodeck and maybe make contact, so that nothing negative comes out. Much like your experiences with the Borg. Then, we can present them to the Commodore coming up. How does that sound?" Andrinn asked, knowing that he owed the Commander more apologizes that he could ever give.

Rin nodded. "That sounds like a prudent plan."

"Okay, I'll see about reaching out to maybe Engineering or Operations to see what they might have to put in place for the holodeck. Then, we'll go from there. Thanks for meeting up with me and again, I apologize for what I said. It just slipped my mind, ma'am," Andrinn said sincerely, looking back at Rin as he apologized once more.

With that, Andrinn headed out and got a game plan on how to maybe get the Zynari to come out in the holodeck without causing much harm to anyone. He knew that this was going to be interesting on how it was going to play out. But, Andrinn wanted answers like the rest of the crew.

[OFF:]

Lieutenant Commander Rin
Chief Intelligence Officer
USS Elysium

&

Consul Andrinn Orin
Chief Diplomatic Officer
USS Elysium